Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
Western Australia awarded $2.56M to 14 organisations through the Innovation Pathways Program on April 9, 2026. Grants up to $300k for accelerators, $200k for education programs. Focus on energy, defence, health, tourism. 43% supports regional WA. Next round opens November 2026.
Brisbane crypto exchange Swyftx replaced CEO Jason Titman with cofounders as acting co-CEOs and cut 15% of headcount after acquiring Easy Crypto and Caleb & Brown. The cuts follow a year of rapid M&A that grew the team to 300 people across Australia, New Zealand, and the US.
MYOB locked in a five-year Microsoft partnership to build AI agents for its 3.2 million ANZ customers, days after Xero announced its Anthropic deal. The collaboration funds joint development of agentic AI tools using Copilot Studio and Agent 365, targeting cashflow forecasting and compliance automation for SMEs.
Canva acquired Simtheory and Ortto, both founded by Chris and Mike Sharkey (Stayz founders). Fifth acquisition in 2026. Limited public data on Canva's sales org, but enterprise push suggests growing team. No disclosed comp or headcount.
HubSpot is moving Breeze AI agents to outcome-based pricing from April 14: $0.50 per resolved conversation, $1 per qualified lead. The play follows Sierra's $150M ARR outcome model and Intercom's $100M+ Fin growth. For sales teams, this means paying only when AI actually ships leads or closes tickets, not for attempts.
Five Australian startups closed $30.1 million this week, led by Sydney compliance startup Haast's $17 million Series A. The round signals investor appetite for enterprise AI infrastructure and vertical SaaS, though none disclosed sales team expansion plans or comp details.
Zapier now evaluates every candidate on AI capability using a four-tier rubric. The automation company went from 10% to 97% internal AI adoption after CEO Wade Foster called a week-long code red following GPT-4's launch. They now run 800+ AI agents, more than their employee count.
Xero data shows 92% of Australian small businesses are running negative cashflow 4.2 months per year, with a 90-day crunch building from payday super reforms and 55-day collection periods. If you are selling to SMEs, your deals just got harder to close.
Sydney unicorn Canva acquired two local startups, Simtheory (AI collaboration) and Ortto (marketing automation), marking its sixth acquisition in 10 months. The $4 billion revenue company is repositioning from graphic design into enterprise workflows, customer data, and agentic AI. For sales teams, this means Canva is now building tools that compete with traditional sales enablement and marketing automation platforms.
Meta launched Muse Spark, an AI model designed to push product recommendations into social feeds across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The play: turn casual scrolling into commerce. For B2B sales teams, it signals another platform betting big on AI-driven discovery, though Meta's walled garden approach limits cross-platform prospecting.
Anthropic reached $30 billion annualized revenue in April 2026, overtaking OpenAI's $24 billion despite a fraction of the consumer user base. The gap closed through enterprise API contracts and developer tools, not viral apps. Worth noting: neither company is profitable, and both are burning billions on infrastructure.
Tasmanian AI infrastructure startup Firmus has locked in another US$505m ($725m AUD) equity raise led by Coatue, valuing the company at $8 billion. This follows a $10 billion debt facility in February and positions the company for an ASX IPO later this year. Sales implications: unclear. No CRO, VP Sales, or go-to-market team details disclosed.